Materials handling facilities move materials, such as objects via various conveyance mediums or mechanisms such as carts, conveyors, lifts, trucks and the like. Conveyance mediums or mechanisms may be used to move materials into, out of and within the facility. For example, materials may be unloaded from trucks at a receiving area into the facility, conveyed among various processing stations or storage areas within the facility and conveyed out of the facility at a shipping area. In some materials handling facilities, received materials, such as objects or components, may be manufactured into other materials and objects, such as retail items. Some facilities may send out the same items that they receive, for example, fulfillment centers.
Materials, such as objects or items may be processed at processing stations in a facility. Conveyance mediums or mechanisms may transport the materials to or from a processing station. Sometimes, a processing station may be configured as part of a conveyance mechanism, for example, labels may be applied to packages as the packages are transported on a conveyance mechanism.
In some materials handling facilities, packages or containers containing items may be received and packages or containers containing items may be shipped. In some facilities, items may be unpacked, stored, repackaged and shipped. For example, agents of a distribution center may unpack received items packaged in a large quantity to repackage them for sale in smaller quantities or the distribution center may unpack items to determine if the item is broken or damaged during shipment before repackaging the item and shipping the item. Sometimes, the destination of a received item or package within a facility is unknown until characteristics of the item or package are determined by unpacking the item. In some facilities, the destination of a package may change when it is determined that an item in the package has a characteristic that is unexpected, for example, if the package weighs more than it should, if the package is damaged, if an item within the package is damaged, if the package is poorly packed, or if the package has liquid contents, etc.
While embodiments are described herein by way of example for several embodiments and illustrative drawings, those skilled in the art will recognize that embodiments are not limited to the embodiments or drawings described. It should be understood, that the drawings and detailed description thereto are not intended to limit embodiments to the particular form disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope as defined by the appended claims. The headings used herein are for organizational purposes only and are not meant to be used to limit the scope of the description or the claims. As used throughout this application, the word “may” is used in a permissive sense (i.e., meaning having the potential to), rather than the mandatory sense (i.e., meaning must). Similarly, the words “include,” “including,” and “includes” mean including, but not limited to.